That's really how Fantasy Calendar started out, by looking into how it was set up and expanding on what it could do, and now, 2 and a half years later, it's used by over 13,000 users! Who would've thunk?
Some questions with Adam, creator of Fantasy Calendar and a new Dungeon Generator.
Q&A with Adam of Fantasy Calendar
How did you get into creating random generators?
It always starts out with a curiosity. How does it work? What tables, if any, does it use? What can be improved?
When I first saw Donjon's vast amount of generators, some of them jumped out to me, like the calendar generator and the random dungeon generator, I wanted to understand how they worked!
So I dove into the source code and poked around until I understood how the pieces fit together and how it all worked, and tried out some of it myself.
That's really how Fantasy Calendar started out, by looking into how it was set up and expanding on what it could do, and now, 2 and a half years later, it's used by over 13,000 users! Who would've thunk?
What generators are you most proud of creating and why?
Definitely Fantasy Calendar!
The amount of positive reception and support I've gotten from the D&D community is astounding, and just makes me want to improve upon it even more.
I'm still dipping my toes into other types like dungeon, city, and shop generators, but it's fair to say that time-tracking systems like calendars still fascinate me the most.
What is the most fun thing about creating generators?
Just how far you can take it - the random dungeon generator that we created supports megadungeons across multiple floors, and with the upcoming update to Fantasy Calendar, it can handle intercalary months and multiple leap days with some crazy intervals, like appearing every 400 years, unless it's divisible by 1200. It takes the headache out of creating, and leaves it with all the fun bits!
What are the most painful lessons you've learnt from creating generators?
I always underestimate how much math is sometimes required, which is something I'm not particularly good at...
When your entire systems depend on stability, and one variable out of place can have knock-on effects which can be extremely hard to track down!
There's some features I've had to implement into Fantasy Calendar that use a certain function to solve a problem that I haven't seen anywhere online, even after tens of hours of googling for a solution.
Solving these problems can be painful, but ultimately very rewarding!
How do you use random generators yourself?
For everything!
I use Donjon for names, places, and shops, my own calendar on Fantasy Calendar to track time and events in my weekly D&D game, and LegendKeeper (not affiliated) for notes and worldbuilding.
I hold the firm belief that a DM is only as good as the tools they use, and I want to use the best, even if it means to create them myself sometimes! :)
What is the most interesting generator or tool you've seen?
Definitely LegendKeeper (again, not affiliated :P).
The versatility of a wiki / google maps hybrid for an RPG world is a real treat, and the amount of love and care that Braden, its creator, has put into it is incredible.
What are your next big projects (generators or otherwise) that you can talk about?
A huge update for Fantasy Calendar, which will bring it all the way to version 2.0!
It features mobile support, a long awaited dark theme, multiple leap days, detailed season systems, eras, condition based events, complex weather generation, and more.
We can't wait to release it into the wild!
Where can people find you on social media?
We're relatively responsive though not active on our twitter account, but our Discord server is where it's at!
We show off the latest versions of the Fantasy Calendar beta, and discuss regularly with our users what to improve upon next. Dip in if you want to join in on the fun!
More Interviews
You can find more more Creator Interviews on Rand Roll.
I have a discord for discussing random tools and tables and I'm also on instagram as rpg_generators with random tables and gens.
Any tips to help keep the site running are welcome.
